#

Cherchez la femme.

Sheriff Mark Brave, caught in a lie before the grand jury looking at his alleged embezzlement, may have accidentally told the truth for the first time in months, according to the affidavit released late last week.

Confronted by surveillance video of himself and the woman he spent a romantic weekend with in Boston, including a harbor dinner cruise, the married Brave was unable to come up with her name.

“Her name, her name is … um … Let me see, I forget which one this is. I’ve been dating a lot of people,” Brave testified before the grand jury.

Brave, the Strafford County Democrat who became New Hampshire’s first Black sheriff, faces up to 64 years in prison and not simply a painful divorce. Why? He allegedly paid for his affairs with taxpayer funds. According to the affidavit written by New Hampshire Attorney General Investigator Allison Vachon, the May weekend trip in question was paid for with public money stolen from Strafford County residents. 

Strafford County taxpayers allegedly funded Brave’s Maryland tryst with Kenisha Epps-Schmidt.

Brave lied when he used his county credit card for the trip, claiming he was going to a New Hampshire Accreditation Commission celebration dinner in Boston and the dinner cruise was connected to his volunteer work for the Special Olympics.

Like most of Brave’s cover stories that Vachon investigated, the May trip lie was easily disproved with a couple of phone calls. There was no celebration dinner for the New Hampshire Accreditation Commission that weekend in Boston, and the Special Olympics were not hosting a dinner cruise, either, according to Vachon.

What Vachon did learn, though, is that the woman seen kissing Brave in hotel surveillance video and going on the dinner cruise with him was celebrating her birthday that weekend. At least Brave was able to remember that.

That woman, known as Y.F. in Vachon’s affidavit, is just one upon whom investigators say Brave used taxpayer money to lavish with trips and meals. Her name is Freezenia Veras.

Veras had been working for the department’s prosecutor when Brave created a new position for her in March 2022 as chief of support services/public information officer. He reportedly did so without county approval. Her new $ 79,000-a-year salary made Veras better paid than most of the sworn deputies with police certifications, a professional qualification Veras lacks. Brave also had Veras sworn in as a “special deputy,” giving her the power to arrest people in the county.

Freezenia Veras

Now, fed-up county commissioners, who Brave has accused of racism over the investigation into his spending, are scheduled to meet Monday to possibly terminate his command.

County Administrator Ray Bower told investigators Veras’ new job and high salary created a hole in Brave’s budget. NHJournal found that Brave started running out of money for salary and overtime with six more months left in the fiscal cycle.

Veras’ job as chief of support services initially did not have a description, so Brave put her in charge of tasks like reconciling his purchases with the county credit card. One such purchase she reconciled was the trip to Fort Lauderdale that she and Brave took together a few months later, in August 2022. 

Though they both initially lied about not sharing a hotel room, Veras later admitted she spent the night in the same room with Brave. She also claimed they did not have sex. Brave persisted in front of the grand jury that Veras stayed with friends in Florida and not the hotel room. 

Veras did not respond to a request for comment.

Like many of the trips Brave charged to the county, he claimed he went to Florida with Veras for a function hosted by a law enforcement organization. Vachon could find no evidence to back up that claim.

Brave claimed many trips were connected to meetings and conferences hosted by an organization called the New England Sheriff’s Association. Vachon reported that despite Brave’s insistence the group is real, she could not find any proof that the New England Sheriff’s Association actually exists. 

Brave often involved other people in his web of lies, creating facts that were easy to disprove, according to Vachon. In one instance, he went to Maryland this February on the pretense of meeting with U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-Manchester). Brave told investigators that Pappas canceled the meeting at the last minute but gave the sheriff a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol by way of apology.

Vachon called the congressman’s office and was told there was no scheduled meeting between Brave and Pappas. Instead, it turned out Brave was meeting with a Maryland woman he met online. Kenisha Epp-Schmidt contacted the police on her own and told investigators about the romantic relationship she had with Brave. Epp-Schmidt also did not respond to a request for comment.

County officials contacted the Attorney General’s Office in April after becoming alarmed when Brave maxed out his county credit card and then quickly maxed out the county credit card of a subordinate to buy airline tickets and book hotels, according to Vachon.

Brave is charged with eight felonies, including theft, perjury, and falsifying evidence for stealing at least $19,000 from the county. He remains out on bail and on the job for now, though the County Commission is meeting at 11 a.m. to discuss Brave’s future employment as sheriff. Brave is due in Rockingham Superior Court next month for his arraignment. 

The feud between Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave, who is currently under criminal investigation, and his fellow Democrats on the County Commission took a turn Friday with the three commissioners accusing Brave of leaking confidential information and misleading the public.

Brave is facing allegations of theft and abuse of office which are being investigated by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit. Brave broke news of that investigation, and also revealed he has already been investigated by outside firm Municipal Resources Inc. in a separate matter initiated by the commissioners.

Brave said he is being investigated for taking a female employee on a trip to Florida using county money, and for allegedly paying the woman’s housing expenses also with county money. Brave is denying any wrongdoing.

Additionally, Brave claims the dispute is a case of political bullying. Brave and all three elected commissioners are Democrats.

Now, Commissioners George Maglaras, Robert Watson, and Deanna Rollo are pushing back, issuing a letter accusing Brave of “misleading the public.”

“For whatever reason, Sheriff Brave has made the choice to disclose parts of the MRI report while answering questions about the separate Attorney General criminal investigation. It is unfortunate that Sheriff Brave has chosen to release only portions of the MRI report to the public, portions that when taken out of context are helpful to himself, but misleading to the public,” the letter states.

In January, MRI was hired to look into Brave. The report from MRI is not being released to the public, and County Attorney Tom Verlardi denied NHJournal’s Right to Know request. Velardi stated in his response to NHJournal that the MRI report is considered a personnel record, and therefore exempt from the Right to Know law, 91-A.

Financial records obtained by NHJournal show the county paid more than $2,500 for the investigation and report. In other words, even though Strafford County taxpayers paid for the MRI report, they are not allowed to see it.

The commissioners stated that while they want to release the full report, they are unable to do so under New Hampshire law. They also argued Brave is using the MRI investigation to muddy the waters around the unrelated inquiry by the Attorney General’s Office.

“We are disheartened that Sheriff Brave would choose to go on a publicity tour using parts of the MRI report to defend himself in the totally separate Attorney General criminal investigation. We would very much like to have the contents of the MRI report made public so that confidence is restored in those county officials trying to hold all county employees responsible for their noncriminal actions, even an elected sheriff. Our wish for disclosure of the report, however, does not change our statutory obligation to maintain the confidentiality of the report as a confidential disciplinary record,” their letter stated.

The MRI investigation was initiated weeks after Brave’s wife, Jamie Brave, was arrested for DUI in Portsmouth. NHJournal learned Brave was a passenger in the car at the time of the arrest and that he was too intoxicated to drive, according to police reports. A police officer brought the sheriff to the house of a friend and placed him in the friend’s custody, raising questions about whether Brave received special treatment.

Brave has claimed in the media that he was investigated for allegedly not telling the truth to the commissioners about the arrest. He also accused Maglaras of using a racial slur. Brave told the Rochester Voice that Maglaras called him “the token Black guy and the token’s gonna be up soon.”

Jimenez’s letter to Brave recommends that Brave place himself on the state’s Laurie List, or EES, for police officers with known credibility problems.

Brave’s name is not on the most recent public EES released on July 6 by the New Hampshire Department of Justice. Under state law, police officers placed on the list have the opportunity to keep their identities secret pending appeal.

Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave is under criminal investigation by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit for allegedly misusing public money for trips to Florida with a woman who is not his wife.

The source of that information? Sheriff Brave himself.

Brave, the state’s first elected African American sheriff, took the questionable step of announcing the investigation to Foster’s Daily Democrat reporter Karen Dandurant.

“They are raising all these allegations and rumors, trying to discredit me,” Brave told the reporter. “This is a political attack by people who are supposed to be in my corner.”

The Attorney General’s Office did not comment on the investigation. According to a copy of a letter Senior Assistant Attorney General Dan Jimenez sent to Brave, the sheriff is being investigated for theft, falsification in official matters, and abuse of office. Jimenez’s letter did not provide details about the allegations.

Brave has been at the center of scandal for more than a year as questions have swirled around the $100,000 contract his department received from Frisbie Hospital, where his wife Jamie was the chief nursing officer. The hospital recently terminated the contract early after questions were raised about how Brave secured that revenue.

Hospital representative Ellen Miller said the contract getting canceled had nothing to do with any investigation.

“The contract between Frisbie Memorial Hospital and the Sheriff’s Department states that it can be terminated at any time, and Frisbie Memorial Hospital exercised that right simply because our security department is fully staffed, so we no longer need the services of the Sheriff’s Department,” Miller said.

Jamie Brave served as chief nursing officer until her arrest in December for drunk driving. Sheriff Brave was in the car at the time of his wife’s arrest and was reportedly too intoxicated to drive as well.

A whistleblower told NHJournal that Jamie Brave made the introductions for her husband with key hospital staff leading up to him first getting the contract.

Now the spotlight is on back Mark Brave again.

He told Dandurant the investigation centers on trips he took to Florida with a female employee using county money. He said investigators are implying that he is having an affair with the employee. After raising the issue, he denied the affair and denied misspending public money. His office budget includes $18,000 for travel expenses, he said.

“I misspent nothing. We send deputies out all the time to visit other departments to gain fresh ideas. … That is what this was,” Brave told Dandurant.

Brave also denied using public money to pay for the employee’s housing.

According to Dandurant’s article, County Commissioners Deanna Rollo and Bob Watson, both Democrats, and County Attorney Tom Velardi urged Brave to take a leave of absence after learning of the investigation. Democrat George Maglaras, the county commission’s chair, was not at that meeting and is considered a witness to at least one issue.

Commissioners also tried to have Brave put on the state’s Exculpatory Evidence schedule, or Laurie List, for police officers with known credibility problems, Brave told Dandurant. He said the commissioners voted after it hired an outside firm to investigate Brave.

“The commissioners had no right to launch this investigation against me,” Brave told Dandurant. “They are like sharks circling the water now, looking for anything they can bring up. I am fighting this, and I will continue to do so. It is a blatant attack on my name and what I have done here.”

Jiminez’s letter instructs Brave to essentially place himself on the Laurie List.

“I am also providing you with this notice so that you may notify the appropriate prosecuting agencies covering your jurisdiction with Brady v. Maryland … and State v. Laurie …” Jimenez wrote.